Google buys Songza for a reported $39m

Google has bought the US-based, human-curated music streaming service Songza
for a reported $39m

Google has bought the US-based, human-curated music streaming service Songza for a reported $39m.

The service provides music playlists for users that are personalised depending on their location, the time of day and even the weather. Users can listen to playlists created specifically for being at work, driving or even esoteric situations like "being single".

It has a huge database of information on listening habits and how they change depending on context – something which could be immensely valuable to Google.

It launched in 2007 with the unique proposition of human-curated playlists, while other services were looking at automated recommendation features. At various points it has had musicians and Rolling Stone writers selecting music. However, it has never launched outside the US and Canada.

It can be used for free, with advertising, but some of the 5.5m active users choose to pay $0.99 a week for the premium service to remove them.

Both Google and Songza have said that the service will not be changing for the time being and that existing users would continue to get the same features. But features from the service could be integrated behind the scenes into Google Play Music and YouTube.

Staff from the company will remain in their Long Island City offices for the next few weeks, but eventually be relocated to Google’s New York headquarters.

Songza announced the news on its blog alongside a mock-up of its logo in Google's multi-coloured branding: “Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google. We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use.”

Google said in an announcement that Songza had “built a great service which uses contextual expert-curated playlists to give you the right music at the right time.

“We aren’t planning any immediate changes to Songza, so it will continue to work like usual for existing users. Over the coming months, we’ll explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music.

“We’ll also look for opportunities to bring their great work to the music experience on YouTube and other Google products. In the meantime, check out their service to find a playlist for any mood you’re in — whether you’re feeling a little mellow or a lot funky.”